And the Winner is.....

Hi you all!
I am pleased to announce that I successfully managed to write down the names of all who entered my little giveaway, found my battered summer hat in the shoe cupboard (?), and pulled a name. And the first out of the hat was..............................................
Jan of Jan's Arty Junk, who has won the Paris themed matchbox.
Congratulations, please send me your snail mail addy - my mail addy is on my profile.

And as it was fun, I decided to pull another name. This time it was Karen -  Missy K, and she will be getting the second matchbox which I showed yesterday. Congratulations.

And I decided to award three little consolation prizes. The next three names out of the hat will each get a postcard and a bookmark,  and they are: Suze, Lululiz and SusieJ. Please send me your post addies if I don't already have them!

Thanks to all who took part, sorry not everyone could win! I will get the prizes out to the winners next week.

Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Another grungy box

Hi everybody! I was able to do a bit of crafting this evening, and finished off the second *antique* matchbox. Made it more or less the same as before, ( see here) but used tissue tape for the inside edges instead of ribbon. I re-used an old greetings card for the front and back images.

The sides have been made again with tissue tape, treated with Inka Gold and then varnished. You can still see the brown strip for striking the match, and a picture of the match shining through the tissue tape, an effect I liked very much.

The inside image is once again from Gecko Galz.

I am linking again to recycle, re-purpose and re-invent.

It kept me occupied this evening, and that was a good, as I have quite a few problems on my mind just now.

Have a good day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Tag Tuesday

Hi you all. I thought I might have melted away by now, but still seem to be here. It has cooled off a little outside, and the temperature in my apartment has fallen to 28°, but it's still too hot for comfort! Lucky I made my entry for Tag Tuesday last week, as I didn't get much done over the weekend. Out theme this week is *Table Games*. I don't play many games these days,  as they are all games that need more people. I play cards, or sometimes scrabble or snakes and ladders when I visit my friend Inge, but one game that I loved as a kid was Monopoly. Here I have made a tag using these gorgeous Reebok monopoly high-tops - ah, I would sooooooooooooo love a pair of these! Boots to walk the streets paved with gold! But at least I have them on my tag, together with the game-money. I have staged it with the other accoutrements of the game, and had fun making this tag.

I have a little giveaway going on here, you are welcome to join in! I will pull a winner out of the hat thisThursday,  August 23rd,  at about 8am 'my' time.

Have a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting! 

Little Giveaway.

Yesterday was sooooooooooooooooo hot I was not able to do anything. I don't mind it being warm outside, but when it is so warm in my apartment I do not feel so happy, and have problems with breathing, so I had a really quiet day, busy doing nothing except for reading and snoozing.

I wanted to do a Giveaway when I got to 100000 clicks, but I saw that I must have missed it, as I now am well over the mark. The counter is between paper-craft pleasures and creative swaps, not the one on the globe at the top, which I added about half way through my blog-time. This is also post 777, so that's a good number, too.

Yesterday I showed you a large,  altered matchbox. If you want to see the other pics you can do so here

 I have filled the matchbox with lots of pretty things, and will be adding the little Paris mini-book I made last week, too. And a few other bits and bobs and some recent tags. If you would like to take part, just leave a comment, and I will choose a name out of the hat on Thursday morning.

That's all for today, take care, and thanks for coming by!

Happy Mail, an Altered Matchbox and Shadow Pictures

I was lucky to be the recipient of happy mail again this week, this time from Diane, who sent me a beautiful thank you card. It took a long time to get here, as the customs held in up and opened it to check for contraband....Here it is:

I just love these details, with the bottle full of thanks and the lovely stone set in the nest of netting.

Thanks, Diane, things like this make my day. I know everyone loves getting post - except for bills, perhaps, but as I am nearly always on my own it really does brighten my life.

This is an altered, large matchbox, which I distressed to within an inch of it's life! I used some French images from Gecko Galz, which have been painted with aging varnish and then crackled.  The sides have been covered with TH Tissue Tape, which has also been varnished and distressed. I put another image inside the tray, and edged it with some ribbon. the outside of the tray has been treated with Inka Gold and some DIs. I finished it off with a Hitch fastener. I will fill it with some French bits and bobs.

Front

Back

Sides

Inside the tray.

It has been extremely hot the past couple of days, and tomorrow will be even more so. At the moment, and 10.45 pm it  is still 29° outside - it was 38 this afternoon - and unfortunately, also over 30° here in my apartment, so I think I can look forward to a hot night! I kept the curtains drawn to keep off the sun, and got these lovely pics of the shadows of  plants and bric-a-brac on my window ledge.

Okay, enough for today! Have a good day, take care and thanks for visiting!

Cissie in South Africa and PPF

It's Friday again, and that means it's time for Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge, where our participants are off to South Africa.

Jason and Shannon are still on Malta, enjoying their honeymoon. Queenie now has her flat and shop in Lewisham finished, and will opening up once the *Kids* are back. She has decided to sell a mix of vintage clothes, sorted according to the decades they come from, and bric-a-brac and accessories. Cissie and Thelma have got themselves sorted out in their ‘flat-share’, and are happy. They have been busy eating all the leftovers from the reception, and Thelma has had her tooth repaired. They are off to Capetown for a week, and will be returning on time to get everything ready for the newly weds before they return. They are travelling with a local women's group they belong to, and are rather concerned when they see that they are only allowed one case each. But they do have very large cases….
After a long, but happy flight they arrive in Capetown, and travel to their hotel, a beautiful lodge near the water front, which used to be a prison back in the 19th century. But inside it has been transformed into a very luxurious hotel, so all the ladies are satisfied.

The food is good, and very plentiful, with masses of wonderful meat dishes, which Cissie and Thelma enjoy.

They visit the market, and enjoy bargaining with the stall holders, and buy souvenirs to take home, convinced they have made good bargains.

Cissie is ogled by all the men they meet, especially when she wears her tight fitting animal-print dress, or the skirt with the slit almost up to her doo-dah. Thelma feels rather jealous, and hisses, ‘If I were you, I would buy my clothes a size bigger!’ Cissie replies calmly, ‘If you were me, you wouldn’t want or need to!’
The waiter at the hotel nearly falls over his own feet in the effort to serve them, especially Cissie, as many portions as they want. Cissie often gets poisonous looks from the other ladies as she is always served first. But this is not something that Cissie notices.
They have a memorable coach tour to the Kariega Game reserve and the West Cape national parks, and are delighted with all they get to see.

And on their last night, they visit a Zulu Village and join in a festival meal and watch the dances.

 And Cissie, of course, joins in…. All in all, a wonderful holiday to remember.
This is the card they send home:

Sorry that the photo of Cissie is a bit blurred, she danced so quickly that Thelma had problems to get a good shot!

On the flight back home, Cissie says, ‘You know Thelma, we really needed that holiday after all the stress we’ve had lately.’ ‘Yes, and it was good to have some decent meals instead of eating all those leftovers!’ replies Thelma. ‘But I do fancy some fish and chips again!’

For PPF I have been playing with my head(s) again. I used acrylic and metallic paints in blues and greens, with a touch of gold, scraped on diagonally with a credit card. I used my template to cut out the head, and placed an old magazine cut out, showing the watery origins of life, behind it. I added a bit of stamping, doodling, some collaged images, and the first verse from Psalm 130: 'Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice'.

And this is the other 'head-case' picture, which I showed here yesterday- It has been painted on canvas using a mix of water-colours, sprays, and some blobs of gold ink.

So, I think that was enough for today. Have a good day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Playing with my head(s) again....

I wanted to do some painting yesterday, and discovered that all three blocks of paper were used up - but after rummaging in the bottomless pit AKA my hall closet, I found a large block with canvas sheets, which I suppose I might have been saving for something -  if only I could remember what! Anyway, I cut one of the very large sheets in half and got out my head ( I mean the template) and water colours and some inks, and just played. And I do like the results, I love layering the colours one over the other, and this combination.

The canvas has a rough texture, so I applied the paint thinly in some parts so that it shows through.

And it's always fun to flip on some splodges of gold ink....

I am linking up to Simon Says Stamp and show, where the theme  this week is favourite techniques, and Frilly and Funkie, who want to see canvas.

Here's hoping you all have a great day. Take care, and thanks for coming by!